


vampires don't fly commercial

by dressedupasmyself



Series: 30 Days of Klaroline (June 2020) [12]
Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Caroline is extra, F/M, Family Fluff, It's Klaus's birthday, Origami, Writer's Block, so obviously it makes no sense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:15:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24792205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dressedupasmyself/pseuds/dressedupasmyself
Summary: It's Klaus's birthday, and Caroline knows just what to get him.
Relationships: Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson
Series: 30 Days of Klaroline (June 2020) [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1770547
Comments: 6
Kudos: 65





	vampires don't fly commercial

**Author's Note:**

> Let's just call this a brief interlude while I overcome my writer's block. So sorry for making you read this nonsense XD

“Why are you sitting on the floor?”

Caroline didn’t bother looking up. She was obsessively folding paper cranes, deft fingers winding around paper in a way that was more muscle memory than actual concentration.

“Why are you not sitting on the floor?”

Rebekah huffed, obviously unimpressed with Caroline’s tone. Since this was hardly a new development, Caroline found it all too easy to brush off.

“Nik leaves for six days and you completely lose it.”

Caroline looked up sharply. “I am not dependent on his constant presence. I am more than capable of handling myself without his incessant hovering.”

Rebekah raised an eyebrow. “And that explains why you’re blocking the kettle and being a general nuisance to the entire household, _how_ exactly?” Her eyes flicked over the mess of birds on the floor, brow crinkling. “What is all this, anyway?”

“It’s a present.”

“For Nik?” Rebekah’s tone was sceptical.

“Yep.”

Rebekah left the kitchen, muttering about how _she just wanted a cup of tea_ and _why does everyone else get to bring home strays except for her?_ And it was all very dramatic, but so was Caroline.

Elijah stepped on one of her cranes, immediately growing alarmed at Caroline’s sound of protest.

“What is it?” he asked, looked down with wide eyes.

“You’re stepping on my birds.” Caroline crawled over the floor to tug at the edge of a malformed wing that poked out from under his shoe.

“My apologies.” Elijah lifted his foot, and she sat back to try and salvage the poor bird. “What exactly are you busy with? May I suggest a change in location?”

Caroline’s glare was self-explanatory, and Elijah backed off with a reluctantly amused smile.

“I suspect you’ll be glad to hear that Niklaus will be returning tomorrow morning, rather than evening.”

“Why does everyone think that I need Klaus to function?” Caroline asked, annoyed. “I am an entire, independent human being.”

“Yes,” Elijah said, in that way that he had, which made it very clear that he disagreed with her on a fundamental level. “And yet here you are, filling the communal living spaces with fragile trinkets.”

Caroline smiled brightly. “Trust me, Elijah, this is all for the greater good.”

Kol understood immediately, which didn’t surprise Caroline in the slightest.

“I think I fucked up,” he said, with such a dejected expression that Caroline was temped to coo at him. He held out his half-folded bird in Caroline’s direction, looking for all the world like a child unable to open a sweets packet.

Caroline unfolded and refolded one of his sides. “You’re not making crisp enough lines.”

Kol pulled a face but spent a little longer on the other wing. He looked extremely proud of himself when he held up the finished product.

“That’s great,” Caroline said, only really looking with half an eye. “Now hurry, we need, like, four hundred more before morning, since Klaus can’t stick to plans even if the world depended on it.”

“Time is an abstract concept that exists outside of the astral plane my brother lives on,” Kol agreed, picking up another square of paper. “I hope he gets a papercut.”

Caroline laughed.

Klaus came home just as Caroline stepped out of his bedroom. It wouldn’t have been a weird occurrence, since she spent most nights there, anyway, but she guessed the way her eyes widened at his sudden appearance in front of her gave her away.

He narrowed his eyes. “Caroline.”

“Klaus,” she said, trying a sweet smile that she knew would be useless once he’d caught onto her scheming. “You’re back early.”

He stepped closer, a curious little grin tugging at his lips. “What, no _I’ve missed you_? No _happy birthday_?”

She let his hands circle around her waist and tug her gently away from the door. She let out a breath as he entered what used to be his stylishly decorated, sophisticated bedroom.

Now, it was filled from top to bottom with colourful paper cranes. It hung on strings from the ceiling, was draped along the walls and over the windows, and dumped in piles along the floor and bed.

“Ah,” Klaus said, just looking at the chaos. “This is a surprise.”

“There are exactly one thousand, two hundred and eighty five cranes,” Caroline piped up. “I folded them myself. Kol helped a little, but he kept ruining it.”

Klaus turned slowly, a single eyebrow raised. “What am I meant to do with this mess now, sweetheart?”

“It’s not a mess!” Caroline defended. “It’s art.”

“Right,” Klaus said, not sounding exactly convinced. “And what am I meant to do with this… art?”

“Maybe you should take a closer look.”

Caroline was careful to purse her lips to hide her grin. Klaus watched her for a long moment with squinted eyes, then reached up to scratch at his brow with a sigh.

“At this point, there is no use in denying that I will indulge just about anything you ask of me, love.”

He stepped into the room, batting birds out of the way as he went. She could barely see him through the thick curtain of paper, but his silhouette stopped in front of the bed. She heard the rustling of tissue paper as he opened his gift, and then there was a woosh of air that left him standing in front of her, two bits of cardboard pinched between his middle and forefinger.

“Sweetheart,” he asked warily, “What are these?”

“Plane tickets.” She pasted on her best ‘butter can’t melt’-expression.

“What for?”

She rolled her eyes. “Honestly, Klaus, can’t you read? I want you to show me Tokyo, like you promised. For your birthday.”

Klaus raised his chin as he tried to figure her out. “All the theatrics were a bit much, don’t you think?”

Caroline grinned widely. “You love theatrics.”

He hesitated. “I might.” His nose twitched in disgust at the tickets he still held. “We’re not using these, though. Vampires don’t fly commercial.”

"Of course not," Caroline remarked dryly.

Klaus wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pressed a soft kiss to her jaw, attention still halfway focused on the open door. “Why don’t I buy you dinner, and we can find someone who’s willing to pack all of this neatly into a box, hmm?”

“Willing?” Caroline scoffed, and let him lead her downstairs. “As if you ever ask nicely.”

She could just imagine his gleeful expression. “I know many ways of asking _nicely_ , sweetheart, I just can’t imagine that you’d be happy with me if I tried them on a random bloke in the street.”


End file.
